December 11th, 2014 is the twelfth International Mountain Day (IMD).This year, the theme for IMD is Mountain Farming, which focus on how family farming in mountain regions is undergoing rapid transformation due to population growth, economic globalization, urbanization and the migration of men and youth to urban areas.

 

         2014 IMD symposium (by IMHE)

In order to celebrate 2014IMD, create a platform to exchange research of mountain development in the Himalayan regions, and also summarize the last year’s work and develop the work plan in future, Chinese Committee on International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development  (CNICIMOD)  organized a symposium on Development Strategies of Mountain Development in Himalayan regions in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China on December 10-12th, 2014. Around 30 experts from ICIMOD and domestic research institutes and universities attended the symposium.

Several presentation were given focusing on the international programme developed in China, such as the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP) and Koshi River Basin Programme (KBP), after a full discussion valuable suggestions were put forward. Prof. Deng Wei gave a report on “Scientific and Cooperation Development in South Asia regions based on China ‘One Belt One Road’ Police” which broaden the vision of scientific cooperation in South Asia regions.

The 2014 Annual Meeting of CNICIMOD was held during the symposium.Representatives from Bureau of International Cooperation of National Natural Science Foundation of China, Bureau of International Cooperation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, ICIMOD and members of CNICIMOD attended the meeting.

Aiming to raise public awareness about how mountain agriculture, which is predominantly family farming, has been a model for sustainable development for centuries, CNICIMOD made nearly 30 posters for displaying and prepared publications for distributing that reflect research works conducted on mountain hazard management, climate change and mountain development.